Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-09-23
DIR. Searle on Tobacco.

August DR.. w. S. Searle has a paper
on 'Sedentary Men and Stimulants."
The following extract may prove some
thing of n surprise to people who are
apt to permit fanatics to do their think
ing:
ut is not little remarkable that to-
bacco. one of the least harmful of these
substances, should have been so long
and loudly decried From the counter
blast of King James to the fulmina-
tons of the latest gathering of the
clergy. the diatribes uttered against its
use have been equaled only by the de-
nunciations of alcohol. In these, many
physicians who should know better,
have heartily joined. And yet, in spite
of this not only. but in defiance of its
nauseous properties and the disgusting
forms in which it has often been used,
the universally of its adoption by the
race speak volumes for its peculiar
adaptation to the demands of life.
quite incapable of producing the
exhilaratng effects of alcohol. mildly
narcotic only as compared with opium
and other substances of this class, al
most destitute OF power to give pleas
urable sensations or to excite the emo
tons, its acceptance by man has no
parallel in quickness and extent, its
hold upon him is absolute, and its
popularity ever continues TO increase.
1t appeals equally to the savage, to
the civilized, and to all classes in the
community. And for these truly
wonderful facts there is no cOnceiv-
able sufficient explanation. exceps this,
viz: that it is, of AL others, the para
triptc which best meets the demands
of customary lite, is best adapted to
the habits of men. and is practically
found to produce but slight injurious
results,
Certainly most of the bad effects
which have been charged to its excess
i've and continued use are either en-
tirely undeserved or greatly eXagger-
ated.
1T is matter for we'll merited aston
ishment that even men of discernment
are so ready often to select a single
one out of the endless chain Of causes,
and attribute TO it alone certain re-
suits. Surely of all scinencess etiology
is least entitled to respect. And no
more glaring example OF the foolish
facility mentioned exists than that
common even among eminent oculists,
who charge upon the excessive use OF
tobacco certain form of atrophy of
the optic nerve. And this they persist
in doing, even though that opinion is
based upon mere supposition. and
although competent colleagues Of
their own, residing In countries like Tur.
key, where the ordinary use of tobacco
fully equals what We should term great
excess, declare that this form of disease
of the eye is there utterly unknown.
There are nations where the smoking
of tobacco is begun by infants before
they can walk, and where the habit is
universal. and were these wiseacres
correct in their etiology. the entire
adult population ought logically to be
blind
"Er uno dtSce omneS. Not single
charge brought against tobacco has a
better basis. With great wisdom it Is
remarked how much better health
,,,I;,,;l,,ol b.g attained cipnn
ceasing to use tobacco. But any de-
cisive change in long continued habits
even what are termed good habits"
is often temporarily beneficial. The
great curative principle of change is
what has been successfully appealed to
here-the most powerful. and, in fact.
broadly considered, the only existing
curative principle.
I'm estimating the true influence of
tobacco and its congeners, it is mani
festly unfair to consider individual in
stances Of their use. Only by taking
masses of men who for years are under
control as to their diets and habits,
and who, therefore. live upon equal
terms, can we approximate fair er
uSo. And in this regard there could be
no test more equitable than that made
by Sir John Sinclair, and recorded in
his Code of Health recently published
In the pension hospitals of England,
Sir John found one hundred and fifty
men over eighty years of age. Fifteen
of them were over ninety. and four over
one hundred. These formed the rem
nant of the armies OF England. The
rest were dead. and of these survivors
all but two had been consumers of 1.-The
weed all their lives. 1t may be add
cd that the use of tobacco by smoking
forms the most desirable paratriptic
for the dispeptic, as it decidedly assists
digestion by stimulating the secretion
of the gastric juice. 1t appears to be
most useful to men of Emphatic tenn
perament and to disagree most decid-